·      In a setback to the Congress, former state Congress president Kishore Upadhyay has joined the BJP, days ahead of the February 14 Assembly polls in Uttarakhand.

• Noting that Central Asia is central to India's vision of an integrated and stable extended neighbourhood, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Jan 27 that mutual cooperation has achieved many successes over the past three decades. He called for defining an ambitious vision for the coming years.

• Addressing the first meeting of the India-Central Asia Summit being held virtually, the Prime Minister said India and central Asian countries share the same concerns and goals with regard to regional security and were all concerned about the developments in Afghanistan.

• He said that the meeting aims to give an effective structure to mutual cooperation, which will pave the way for the establishment of a platform for regular interaction among all stakeholders and to prepare an ambitious roadmap for cooperation.

• Presidents of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are taking part in the summit. Outlining the goals of the summit, the Prime Minister said the first is to make it clear that mutual cooperation between India and Central Asia is necessary for regional security and prosperity.

•  The second goal of today's meeting is to give an effective structure to our cooperation, which will pave the way for the establishment of a platform for regular interaction among all stakeholders. The third goal is to prepare an ambitious roadmap for our cooperation, which will enable us to adopt an integrated approach for regional connectivity and cooperation," he said.

• PM Modi said that the diplomatic relations between India and Central Asian countries have completed 30 fruitful years.

• The Prime Minister said India has deep relations with all of the Central Asian countries and Kazakhstan has become an important partner in India's energy security.

• PM Modi expressed his condolences at the recent loss of lives in Kazakhstan. Apart from discussing regional security and the Afghanistan issue, the summit will also focus on trade, connectivity, development partnership, culture, and people-to-people ties.

• The summit is symbolic of the importance attached by the leaders to a comprehensive and enduring India-Central Asia partnership. This is first engagement of its kind between India and the Central Asian countries at the level of leaders.

• The summit is also a reflection of India's growing engagement with the Central Asian countries. Prime Minister Modi paid a historic visit to all Central Asian countries in 2015. Subsequently, there have been high-level exchanges at bilateral and multilateral forums.

• Russia's top diplomat said on Jan 28  that Moscow will not start a war but warned that it wouldn't allow the West to trample on its security interests amid fears it is planning to invade Ukraine.

• U.S. President Joe Biden warned Ukraine's president a day earlier that there is a "distinct possibility" that Russia could take military action against its neighbour in February.

• "There won't be a war as far as it depends on the Russian Federation, we don't want a war," Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a live interview with Russian radio stations.

• "But we won't let our interests be rudely trampled on and ignored." Tensions have soared in recent weeks, and the United States and its NATO allies worry that the concentration of about 100,000 Russian troops near Ukraine heralds Moscow's intention to attack the ex-Soviet state.

• Russia has repeatedly denied having any such plans, but has demanded that NATO promise Ukraine will never be allowed to join and that the alliance roll back deployments of troops and military equipment in Eastern Europe.

• Following the 2014 ouster of a Kremlin-friendly president in Kyiv, Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and backed an insurgency in the country's eastern industrial heartland.

• Fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed rebels has killed over 14,000 people, and efforts to reach a settlement have stalled.

• India got its first ever export order for BrahMos missiles on Jan 28 when the Philippines' Defence Ministry signed USD 374 million contract with the BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd (BAPL) to supply undisclosed number of missiles.

• The BAPL, an India-Russian joint venture, produces the supersonic cruise missile BrahMos that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft, or from land platforms.

• The USD 374 million contract is to supply shore-based anti-ship BrahMos missiles to the Philippines' Navy.

• India has already deployed a sizable number of the Brahmos missiles and other key assets in several strategic locations along the Line of Actual Control with China in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.

• Punjab National Bank (PNB) posted a 123% year-on-year (yoy) increase in net profit at Rs 1,127 crore in the third quarter of the current financial year (2021-22) largely on lower provisions.

• The government-owned bank’s total income during the quarter was Rs 22,026 crore lower than Rs 23,042 crore during the same quarter previous year. On a q-o-q basis, however, revenues grew 3.76%.

• Operating Profit increased by 26.24% on Q-o-Q basis to Rs 5,076 crore in the third quarter compared to Rs 4,021 crore in the Q2. Net Interest Income (NII) increased by 22.8 % on Q-o-Q basis to Rs 7,803 crore, while Net Interest Margin (NIM) improved by 54 bps to 2.93% during the quarter. Gross NPA ratio of the bank improved by 75 bps to 12.88% in the December quarter from 13.63% in September quarter.

• Canara Bank has posted a 116% increase in its standalone net profit at Rs 1,502 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2021. Beating street estimates, the public sector bank’s net profit more than doubled on the back of lower provisioning. The bank had posted `696 crore net profit in the year-ago period.

• The bank’s net interest income increased 14% Y-o-Y at `6,945 crore as against Rs 6,086 crore in the year-ago period. Its other income (non-interest income) was down 13% at Rs 3,612 crore compared to Rs 4,153 crore in the same quarter last year.

• The Bengaluru-headquartered bank’s Gross Non-Performing Assets (GNPA) ratio reduced to 7.80% in the third quarter, down from 8.42% in the preceding quarter. Also, the bank’s Net Non-Performing Assets (NNPA) ratio reduced to 2.86% in the third quarter down from 3.21% in the preceding quarter.

• The Provision Coverage Ratio (PCR) stood at 83.26% in the December quarter against 82.44% in the September quarter. Its global business was up by 8.06% Y-o-Y to Rs 17,72,856 crore in the third quarter with global deposits at Rs 10, 43,350 crore (7.23% Y-o-Y) and global advances were up about 9.28% Y-o-Y to Rs  7,29,506 crore. Domestic deposit of the bank witnessed 6.50% growth Y-o-Y at Rs 9,88,659 cr.

• As on Dec 31, 2021, the bank has 9,773 branches, along with 10,832 ATMs and 1,389 recyclers.

• India's gold consumption surged to 797.3 tonnes in 2021, on the back of recovery in consumer sentiments and pent-up demand post Covid-19-related disruptions and the bullish trend is set to continue this year as well, according to the World Gold Council (WGC).

• WGC in its Gold Demand Trends 2021 Report said India's total gold demand jumped to 797.3 tonnes in 2021, registering a massive 78.6 per cent jump from 446.4 tonnes during 2020.

• Gold jewellery demand doubled year-on-year in 2021, surging past pre-pandemic levels to reach a six year high following a record fourth quarter demand of 265 tonnes, fuelled by weddings and festival season, underpin the resilience of gold demand following its deep-rooted socio-economic footprint in household finance.

• In value terms,jewellery demand skyrocketed by 96 per cent to Rs 261,140 crores, from Rs 133,260 crores in 2020.

• Total gold recycled in India in 2021, declined by 21 per cent to 75.2 tonnes, as compared to 95.5 tonnes in 2020, as per the WGC data.

• Total gold imported in India increased by 165 per cent in 2021 to 924.6 tonnes, compared to 349.5 tonnes in 2020.

• Gold investment demand in the fourth quarter also surged to an eight-year high of 79 tonnes, softer prices in November coupled with a positive outlook about future prices adding impetus to retail investments.

• The digital gold savings also rose impressively due to their ease and safety, a pointer to altering future buying behaviour in investment gold.

• Kristina Mladenovic of France and Ivan Dodig of Croatia have defeated Australian players Jaimee Fourlis and Jason Kubler 6-3, 6-4 to win the mixed doubles championship.

• Mladenovic also won the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open in 2014 with Daniel Nestor and has two women's doubles titles in 2018 and 2020 in Australia among her five major women's doubles titles.

• Dodig has three other Grand Slam mixed doubles titles and two in men's doubles, including last year's Australian Open title with Filip Polášek.